Category of radio formats
Christian radio
refers to
Christian media
radio formats
that focus on
Christian
religious broadcasting
or various forms of
Christian music
. Many such formats and programs include
contemporary Christian music
,
gospel music
,
sermons
,
radio dramas
, as well as
news
and
talk
shows covering popular culture, economics, and political topics from a Christian perspective.
[1]
Business models
[
edit
]
A church with its own radio station
Radio Maria
studio in Switzerland.
Brokered programming
is a significant portion of most U.S. Christian radio stations' revenue, with stations regularly selling
blocks
of airtime to evangelists seeking an audience. Another revenue stream is solicitation of donations, either to the evangelists who buy the air time or to the stations or their owners themselves. In order to further encourage donations, certain evangelists may emphasize the
prosperity gospel
, in which they preach that
tithing
and donations to the ministry will result in financial blessings from God. Others may have special days of the year dedicated to fundraising, similar to many
NPR
stations. Although the solicitation of donations and the sale of airtime may resemble a commercial enterprise, such actions do not necessarily constitute a
call to action
, and thus this does not forbid them from airing on
noncommercial
licensed stations in the U.S. A minority of stations, typically music stations, use the traditional model for music radio and allow traditional commercial advertising.
[1]
Numerous religious broadcasters own many of their own stations. In the U.S., religious radio stations are exempt from certain rules requiring radio stations to have some local operations, which allows them to have massive networks of transmitters covering far larger areas than a radio station would otherwise be allowed and may not face the same restrictions on the number of signals a broadcaster can own within one geographic area.
Radio formats
[
edit
]
Most Christian radio stations transmit a mixture of Christian music and Christian talk and teaching.
Christian music
[
edit
]
Christian
music radio
outlets mirror
commercial radio
in many ways, and music in a variety of different
genres
is available. Many stations play primarily
gospel music
, including
Black Gospel
and
Southern Gospel
, or
contemporary worship music
, while others play all formats of
contemporary Christian music
, including Christian pop,
Christian rock
,
Christian rap
,
Christian country music
, and
Christian alternative rock
. Many artists within the
Christian music industry
criticize Christian radio for only playing "safe" music, and not taking enough chances on new artists, or in some cases older artists, that may not be as appealing to the largely conservative
Gospel Music Association
.
[1]
Many non-religious radio stations devote some of their weekend programming to Christian music; for example, Black Gospel programming is common on Sundays on many stations featuring the
Urban Contemporary
format.
Christian talk, radio drama, sermons
[
edit
]
Other Christian stations will present a no-music format that features
talk radio
-style programming (sometimes including live radio call-in shows) and/or long-form "preaching and teaching" programs. Notable examples include
Focus on the Family
with host
Jim Daly
,
Amazing Facts
,
Living Way
with pastor
Jack Hayford
, and
Pastor Rick's Daily Hope
; an example of an inspirational program are
Moments of Melody
and
The Voice of Prophecy
.
Radio drama
programs, long dead in most other radio formats, continue to be transmitted on Christian radio; notable examples include long-running
Adventures in Odyssey
,
Patch the Pirate
, and
Unshackled!
and relative newcomers such as
Down Gilead Lane
and
A Work in Progress
.
Denominations
[
edit
]
Christian radio, particularly in North America, is dominated by
Protestant
ministries, particularly those associated with
evangelical Christianity
. The predominant
Roman Catholic
radio services are the
Eternal Word Network
, founded by
Mother Angelica
as a spin-off of her television service
EWTN
, and
Radio Maria USA
.
The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
, a sect whose
place in Christianity is heavily debated
, maintains some limited radio evangelical operations through
BYU Radio
, which owns a single FM station. The
Seventh-day Adventists
are most closely associated with
Three Angels Broadcasting Network
.
[
citation needed
]
North American and international availability
[
edit
]
Most Christian radio stations as well as programmers based in the United States are members of the
National Religious Broadcasters
, a Christian organization. There are reportedly 1,600 Christian broadcasting organizations in the U.S. They range from single stations to expansive networks. It is common for religious broadcasters to purchase many small
broadcast translators
to create networks that stretch across large regions.
Moody Radio
was the first example, and still one of the largest, though most of its stations broadcast stand-alone programming as well as network feeds.
Z88.3
in Orlando, Florida, the
WAY-FM Network
,
K-LOVE
,
Air 1
,
The Joy FM
,
Reach Radio
,
3ABN Radio
,
Radio 74
, and the
Bible Broadcasting Network
are other notable examples in the world.
Christian radio expanded in the early twenty-first century. It became available in the United Kingdom with changes to broadcasting regulations.
Premier Christian Radio
is based in the London area where it is available on medium wave and DAB; elsewhere, it is available digitally or by Internet.
United Christian Broadcasters
is an international broadcasting and media company; radio stations are based in Albania, Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.
Trans World Radio
is an evangelical media distributor broadcasting Christian programs in 190 countries in more than 300 languages,
TWR-UK
can be heard in the United Kingdom on Sky, Freeview and online.
[2]
Christian radio programs
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Roots and beginnings
| | |
---|
Modern genres
| |
---|
Fusion genres
| |
---|
Chant
| |
---|
Lists
| |
---|
Related topics
| |
---|
|